10 trapped in flooded coahuila mine

Ten miners remained trapped Thursday afternoon following an accident Wednesday at a coal mine in the northern state of Coahuila. The tense situation began Wednesday afternoon when workers

reportedly were excavating one shaft and ran into an adjoining shaft that was full of water, which caused a flood and trapped the miners. According to an update early Thursday, five miners

were able to get out shortly after the accident and were taken for medical care; three remain hospitalized. Later, during the morning press conference of President López Obrador, an official

reported that a group of 30 military personnel with specialized equipment left for the scene late Wednesday night, as did divers from the National Guard. A coordination post has been set up

onsite, added Agustín Radilla Suástegui, the deputy minister of national defense, and there was an early-morning meeting among agencies to coordinate rescue efforts. The mine is located

near the small town of Agujitas, which is about 110 kilometers from the Texas border in the municipality of Sabinas, Coahuila.  Radilla said the miners were trapped between two pits flooded

with approximately 34 meters of water. The mine is made up of three 60-meter-deep shafts. López Obrador said he had instructed the heads of the military (Sedena), CFE, Pemex and Conagua to

streamline support. “What I wish with all my soul is that we rescue the miners,” he added. According to an account from Sedena, the accident occurred while the miners worked with hand tools

in a 50-meter-deep pit. When they tapped into the adjoining area full of water, a tunnel collapsed, causing the flood that trapped the men. The newspaper _El Sol de México _reported that

relatives of the miners said it had been known since Monday that working there was risky because a farm in the Agujita area had a _pocito _(well) with excess water. For that reason, “the

workers were not allowed to enter [the mine] on Monday and Tuesday,” the newspaper wrote. _El Sol de México _added that on “Wednesday it was decided that they should go down to work, since

they are paid for each tonne of coal extracted, and a stoppage would” result in financial setbacks. The goal of the rescuers is to get pumping equipment into place to drain the coal pit,

sources reported, so search-and-rescue teams can enter. According to media reports, the rescue force in the mine area numbers 269 people, including nearly 100 soldiers and seven agencies of

the federal government, as well as state and municipal organizations and four military canine pairs. “It is complicated, but … the important thing is to place the pumps strategically to

extract the greatest amount of water and have immediate access to the mines,” said national Civil Protection coordinator Laura Velázquez. The mine began operations in January 2022 and hadn’t

had any incidents before this week, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (STPS) reported, according to _El Sol de México,_ which also reported that, like most mine workers in Mexico,

the trapped miners are not unionized. “For that and other fundamental reasons, we need a comprehensive reform of the Mining Law,” Morena Senator Napoleón Gómez Urrutia said. Gómez’s father

was a mining union leader for 40 years and he, too, has been involved in union leadership. On Twitter, Gómez, the president and general secretary of the National Mining Union wrote that

authorities do not comply with their obligation to inspect or supervise coal-mining operations, and “that is why these tragedies occur very often,” _El Sol de México _reported. The accident

recalls a previous disaster in February 2006 at the Pasta de Conchos mine, also in Coahuila, where 65 workers died. Only two bodies were recovered. Since then, there have been more than 100

deaths of miners in the area, the _Excélsior_ newspaper reported. The most recent accident was in June 2021, in the municipality of Múzquiz, Coahuila, when a flood caused the roof and walls

of a mine to rupture, killing all seven miners who were trapped inside. _With reports from __El Sol de México__, __Infobae__ and __Milenio_